Cologne Cathedral protests with darkness

Anti-Islamisation marches in Germany have spread from Dresden to other parts of Germany.

A demonstration planned for Cologne has been met with opposition from the cathedral there which has said it will switch off its lights in protest.

The Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) attracted up to 17,000 people to its last rally in Dresden. The opera house there also responded by extinguishing its lights.

“Pegida is made up of an astonishingly broad mix of people, ranging from those in the middle of society to racists and the extreme right wing,” the dean of Cologne Cathedral, Norbert Feldhoff, said.

“By switching off the floodlighting we want to make those on the march stop and think. It is a challenge: consider who you are marching alongside.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel used her new year address to warn that Pegida’s leaders were racists, full of hatred, and that people should b wary of being used by them.

Some people in Germany are concerned about the rapid rise in the number of asylum seekers entering the country. Last year some 200,000 went to Germany, a four-fold increase over 2012.

An opinion poll last week indicated that one in eight Germans would join an anti-Muslim march if Pegida organised one in their town.

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